This study aims to explore the dynamics behind the emergence and expansion of working street children since 1990s in Turkey and Romania, in the context of New Poverty. Poverty is not a new concept, it is a dynamic process, accommodating to new circumstances, its scope shrinking from time to time, but surviving ages. Children, on the other hand, are among the groups that are first and foremost affected from the course of poverty. Nevertheless, working street children is a new notion different from traditional forms of child labour driven with distinct dynamics. In this study, it is claimed that poverty is transformed in the course of globalization process and neo-liberal paradigm. It is also argued that the way children are affected from poverty changed in this process, leading to emergence of working street children. The main discussion of the study is about the connection between working street children and the concept of New Poverty. Turkey and Romania are countries whose political, economic, social and cultural characteristics involve differences at the expense of similarities / however, working street children have been a common problem that both countries have faced at the same period. Employing comparative historical methodology, the main research question is developed as why working street children emerged in similar time periods in Turkey and Romania, which are two quite different countries. After an introductory chapter, Chapter II aims to provide a theoretical framework in which transformation of poverty in general and transformation of child poverty in relation to this process leading to emergence of working street children will be discussed. The third chapter focuses on Turkey and the fourth chapter is on Romania / in both chapters the dynamics leading to emergence of working street children, the scope and dimension of the issue is explored. The fifth chapter is devoted to the comparison of Turkey and Romania in terms of working street children in the context of New Poverty. The conclusion chapter discusses the findings of the study in both countries and tries to locate them into the theoretical framework.

This dissertation examines the relationship between social structural factors and violent crime rates in Turkey. The relationship between social structural characteristics and violent crime is worth exploring in areas that have attracted little academic attention, such as violent crime in Turkey. In order to understand and prevent the occurrence of crime, researchers have long investigated possible factors related to crime. Examining how crime varies across different regions can help us to understand underlying reasons for violent crime, which is considered one of the enduring problems in society. The findings of this research, to some extent, support the assumptions of social disorganization theory regarding the distribution of violent crime. Both the findings of multivariate and bivariate analysis indicated that poverty, unemployment, and family disruptions may have a positive effect on the distribution of violent crime in the cities of Turkey. The analysis of the effects of the social structure variables through the mediating variables, such as religious institutions, libraries and voluntary associations on the number of violent crimes and violent criminals, to some extent, support the tenets of social disorganization theory. However, all mediating variables cannot mediate all the indirect effects of social structural covariates. In brief, none of their indirect impacts on the social structural variables on the outcome variable was significant via mediating variables.

The dissertation is a compilation of three essays on Turkey's poverty alleviation programs. The first paper focuses on the welfare impact of the global financial Crisis on Turkish households. The second paper considers the protective impact of the Green Card non-contributory health insurance program in Turkey during the Crisis in 2008-2009. The third paper uses experimental data from the field in eastern Turkey, to look at patterns of agricultural technology diffusion in a rural development program implemented in a post-conflict setting.